My awful luck with cars (Part 4) - 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP

"Firewrx234" (firewrx234) 08/28/2013 at 15:56 • Filed to: Car Luck

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This series is devoted to telling you all the fun I get to endure when it comes to every car I've ever owned. I've only been driving for 8 years and already had more car problems than all of my friends combined.

Today's part in the series is going to detail my 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. This car was purchased with the money I got from selling my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . This car was my first endeavor into Craigslist and it was definitely an eye opener.

I found this car in a Craigslist ad and saw that it had quite a few pictures from different angles and looked amazing! It had a sunroof/moon roof, a HUD, a fuel mileage/oil life display, leather, and tinting. Honestly, it was great because after the phone call I was even reassured that it drives great and only has 110,000 miles. How could I not go look?!

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After driving through a sketchier side of town, my hopes and dreams began to dwindle. And after setting eyes on the car, they dwindled a lot more. The car was beautiful from *almost* every angle. Apparently, the hood had lost a quite a bit of clear coat and more importantly, it had been t-boned right around the rear-driver wheel. I was reassured that "All the mechanical parts relating to that area have been replaced and you won't even notice". So all that was wrong according to them was a giant ding in the rear quarter panel. "Ok", I tell myself. "Maybe it's not that bad, I'll just take it for a test drive and then if it feels bad, no hard feelings, it's just not for me."

Well, I took it for a test drive. It was AMAZING! I loved every second of it! It was fast, responsive, clean and best of all, I couldn't even tell that it had been hit before! I came back and being that I needed to maintain my composure for the deal. I came back with my best poker face. I looked him straight in the eyes and said, "$2000 is a little steep, will you take $1600?" He looked at me and said, "I understand your concern but it's all been fixed." And then I rebutted "Maybe so but the rear tire is going to get eaten by the fender and the rim isn't even the same as the others." Then he sat there for a minute, thought to himself and said, "You've got yourself a GTP."

I was ecstatic! I've now purchased a running car and can get back out on the road and then eventually knock the fender back into place and bondo what can't be knocked out. It was great!

Then on the drive home, I hit a minor bump in the road and *CRUNCH*. Sure enough, the fender just started eating that wheel. Oh well, I'll just have to take bumps a little more serious and slow down for the bigger ones. Well sure enough, *CRUNCH* I hit another and another, ALL the way home. At this point, I'm feeling very unsure about it and trying to hide it from my family and friends and just show them all the awesome that the car has to show.

As soon as everyone leaves, I start wailing on this fender and I finally get it to where the fender is no longer getting eaten on little bumps but would probably still touch on larger ones or pot holes. A few weeks go by and I'm beginning to realize just how amazing the car is and realize just how great of a deal I made! (One minor amendment to this is that I realized very quickly how much tinting is too much tinting, the car was basically undrivable at night because I couldn't see out my side or rear windows. Beyond that, she was great.)

Not even a month later, the window motor goes out on the driver side and now it won't hold itself up. So, my solution? A screwdriver of course. I jammed that sucker in the window well and thankfully, it held up the window with little to no adjustments for days on end!

Now, back to the matter at hand, that gnarly dent and the shoddy replacement for a tire. My friend and I decided that the best course of action was to hook up the car to a tree and winch out the dent with precision. Unfortunately, we are bafoons and our idea of precision was to take a trailer tie down ratchet and strap and drill holes large enough to fit some eye hooks we found laying around his garage. It worked, sort of. In less than an hour we had pulled most of the sheet metal away from the tire and avoided the tire's fendery-death. Now, with the fender pulled out and the eye hooks removed, I have 3 large "precision" holes in my fender. This only means one thing...bondo time. My friend, having owned a 68 Cougar that got t-boned by an El Camino, was quite the master of bondo. So we did what came naturally and started bondoing away.

This bondo job probably took us 8-10 hours just to fill in the fender and an additional 6-7 hours for the sanding before and after to make sure that the bondo would keep without letting it rust from the inside out.

After it was all said and done, we'd probably made my car about 20-30 lbs heavier with all the extra bondo. Also, the proportions never really looked right, but it looked a whole lot better than the dent that was there before.

After finishing up all this bondo work, we took it out for a spin on the highway. She drove like a dream...until you hit a bump. Then it was more like a nightmare. Apparently, when replacing things after an accident, you should probably get an alignment and make sure *all* of the shocks and springs are in the same condition. Out on the highway, I was beginning to realize that she had developed something of a death wobble. She would buck and bounce unevenly from the driver rear to the passenger front. It became so terrifying that I decided then and there that this was no longer a driveable car for me unless I could fix the suspension and alignment issues. But unfortunately, I was still trying to recover from the Neon's untimely demise and was unable to fix her. At this point, I was crushed. This car was everything I ever wanted out of a car and gorgeous to boot (or at least she would be in the future when I would've had time to revise the bondo and repaint her). I knew that I needed to find someone who would fix it up and make her new again.

After posting it on Craigslist, I got many interested phone calls. One stuck out though, it was for a trade with a mechanic who happened to own a 1998 Chevy Blazer LS 2-door. It was at this point that I knew she'd be taken care of and fixed.

I ended up trading for that Blazer and he went on to fix and repaint the GTP. I was pretty excited about it when I found it on CL about a year later. It spoke about getting a new alignment and replacing the suspension. I knew she'd been fixed up properly and I was much happier about it after that.

As for the Blazer, well, stay tuned for my next installment of "My awful luck with cars".

ddavidn > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:00

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I have poor luck with cars, but not quite this bad. Gotta be careful with those Craigslist lemons.

dogisbadob > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:01

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Try this next time

Firewrx234 > dogisbadob 08/28/2013 at 16:05

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My friends keep telling me that's the only way for me to survive with a car.

Joe_Limon > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:05

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Tis a shame, I loved my grand prix. I only got rid of her after hitting a drive shaft when dodging miscellaneous debris on the highway... which ended up denting my frame, ripping a hole in my oil reservoir and shattering the transmission housing.

Firewrx234 > Joe_Limon 08/28/2013 at 16:10

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Oh my, that sounds like a terrifying drive! What did you replace her with?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:14

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That's a shame. best solution with the blazer will be this- drop in a chevy 350. Fixed.

Joe_Limon > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:19

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Here is a pic of her, and her replacement in winter rubber.

Firewrx234 > Joe_Limon 08/28/2013 at 16:25

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Very nice!

And how do you like the replacement?

Firewrx234 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 08/28/2013 at 16:27

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I have to say, that Blazer was the slowest thing I've ever owned and the thirstiest as well. It made a whole lot more noise when you applied more gas but I think it was just the engine trying to tell me to cut it out.

Joe_Limon > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:27

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Depends on the season. If there is snow on the ground (i.e. half the year since I am Canadian), the Subaru is hard to beat. In most other situations though, I wish I still had the grand prix. She rod nicer, had fewer interior rattles, was more comfortable to sit in, had a better stereo, and more space.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:29

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I'm sure I will find out more later in your next post. but what year and engine?

Firewrx234 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 08/28/2013 at 16:38

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It was a 1998 Chevy Blazer LS with the 4.3 L Vortec engine. Here's a similar sound btw:

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Firewrx234 08/28/2013 at 16:53

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Oh I owned one in a 2004. Are you sure it was Vortec in 98?

Firewrx234 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 08/28/2013 at 16:56

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Guarantee it.

Firewrx234 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 08/28/2013 at 17:05

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Yours was MPFI though vs my SCFI. That's basically the only difference I found.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Firewrx234 08/29/2013 at 10:31

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Oh, that could be a big difference.

I loved mine and when I test drove an 08 Explorer V6 Eddie Bauer it was like a newer version of my 04 Blazer with less options and a SLOWER engine. I always felt like it got off the line great for what it was. Obviously no drag racer but it got out of it's own way without any trouble.

One other question about it. did you have 4x4 or 2x4? My sister had an 05 Blazer 2 door with RWD, mine was a 4 door with 4x4 and hers was a dog off the line. Mine could have beat it any day. I'm wondering if there is a gearing change when you go from 2wd to 4x4.

Firewrx234 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 08/29/2013 at 12:18

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Mine had part time 4x4 and was a 2-door. I loved the utility but man it was slow lol.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Firewrx234 08/29/2013 at 14:56

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Yeah part time 4x4 was the only option, it was that or RWD. I guess the MPFI was a big upgrade.